If you think the new iMac with Retina display is expensive, then get a load of this. Reutersreported on Wednesday that an early Apple-1 computer recently sold for a record $905,000 at auction. Sounds like a lot for a 38-year old computer, so what makes it so special?
For one, the Apple-1 was the brainchild of Steve Wozniak, who hand built them. With Steve Jobs, Wozniak ultimately started selling the computer for less than $700 in 1976. These days we complain about not having enough storage on our smartphones, but back then the Apple-1 was a flagship computer with 4KB of storage and a 1MHz — yes, MHz — processor out of the box.
Reuters said the unit sold at auction may be among the first fifty Apple-1 computers ever built, which means it was likely crafted in Steve Jobs’ garage. The auction house originally estimated the unit would fetch between $300,000 and $500,000. Crazy.